The Nets saw another unexpected new energy from the bench on Friday night.

After holding a lead of just seven points at the end of the first quarter, Keon Johnson gave the Nets their largest lead of the game – 17 points – just five minutes into the second quarter and ultimately scored a 120-112 victory.

The four-year guard came on for Noah Clowney when the Nets led 43-33 and started his attack with a reverse layup.

He then went downhill for a layup and then hit two 3-pointers to become the Nets’ lone scorer in the minutes before a Bulls timeout to make it a 10-point run.

After the timeout, Johnson added another layup to cap his season-high 12 points of the night, as well as a block and a steal totaling nine minutes while later starting the fourth quarter for the Nets.

After the win, Johnson admitted that he didn’t even call for the ball when he was at full speed, but rather told his teammates to give him a break.

“I felt like I was running up the court maybe four or five times as fast,” he said with a laugh. “Just play hard. I know the ball will find me in our offensive system and I’ll just stay stuck on defense.”

Johnson, who was a plus-four on the court on Friday, was also used by the Nets against the Grizzlies on Wednesday and scored four points, grabbed seven rebounds and had an assist and a steal in 15 minutes.

“He was great in that five-minute run,” head coach Jordi Fernandez said after the win. “… These nine minutes are extremely important. And Keon played a big role. Just like CT (Cam Thomas) did his job, Keon did his job too. He won his minutes. Obviously he scored a goal, but the reality is you always have to be ready. He helped the team in Memphis. He helped the team tonight and that’s the kind of energy we need to have good competitiveness with this group. Everyone else stays ready. Everyone else, when your name is called, just be ready to make a difference.”

After allowing the Nuggets a whopping 47 free throws in their fourth game of the season, the Nets limited the Bulls to just 24 free throws, 19 of which they made.

They also scored a season-high 19 fast break points in the win.

Trendon Watford, originally scheduled to play on Friday, was ultimately ruled out after suffering a left hamstring strain during warm-ups.

The injury has kept him out of action since the second day of the Nets’ training camp.